Specifications

DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide46
Expanders can be thought of as soft noise gates
since they provide a gentler way of cutting off
noisy low-level signals than the typically abrupt
cutoff of a gate. If you want, however, you can
actually use this plug-in as a gate, simply by set-
ting the Ratio to its maximum value and using
short attack, decay, and release settings.
Expander/Gate Controls
Phase Invert Inverts the phase (polarity) of the
input signal to change the frequency response
characteristics between multi-miked sources or
to correct for miswired microphone cables.
Reduction Meter Indicates the amount of signal
reduction in dB.
Threshold Sets the threshold level. Signals that
fall below the threshold will be reduced in gain.
Signals that are above it will be unaffected.
(When adjusting the Threshold slider be sure
that audio material is playing through the Ex-
pander/Gate to see changes reflected in the Re-
duction meter.)
Ratio Sets the amount of expansion. For exam-
ple, if this is set to 2:1, it will lower signals below
the threshold by one half. At higher ratio levels
(such as 30:1 or 40:1) the Expander/Gate func-
tions like a gate by reducing lower level signals
much more dramatically. As you adjust the ratio
control, refer to the built-in graph to see how
the shape of the expansion curve changes.
Attack Sets the Expander’s attack time. This de-
termines how quickly a signal’s level is reduced
once it falls below the threshold. Use this along
with the Ratio setting to control how soft the
Expander’s gain reduction curve is.
Hold Specifies a duration (in seconds or millisec-
onds) that the Expander/Gate will stay open af-
ter the initial attack cycle. This can be used as a
one-shot function to keep the Expander/Gate
open for longer periods of time with a single
crossing of the threshold. It can also be used to
prevent gate chatter that may occur if varying
input levels near the threshold cause the gate to
open and close very rapidly.
Decay Controls how long it takes for the gate to
close after the input signal falls below the
threshold level and the hold time has passed.
Range Sets the depth of the gate when closed. It
has a maximum depth of –80 dB. Setting the
gate to higher range levels allows more and
more of the gated audio that falls below the
threshold to peek through the gate at all times.
Key HPF This is a high-pass filter that removes
low frequencies in the Key Input signal. Use this
to define a specific frequency range of the Key
Input to trigger the Expander/Gate. A typical
use for this feature is to filter a drum track used
as a Key Input so that only specific high fre-
quencies (such as a snare drum) will open the
Gate.
Key LPF This is a low-pass filter that removes
high frequencies in the Key Input signal. Use
this to define a specific frequency range of the
Key Input to trigger the Expander/Gate. A typi-
cal use for this feature is to filter a drum track
used as a Key Input so that only specific low fre-
quencies (such as a kick drum or tom) trigger the
Expander/Gate. The maximum value for Key
LPF is Off. This lets the Key Input to pass
through without limiting its high-frequency
bandwidth.
Graph Displays the response curve set by the Ex-
pander/Gate’s Threshold, Ratio, and Range set-
tings. As you adjust these controls, refer to the
graph to see how the shape of this curve
changes.